Baking with Blue Diamond

Can I first just say that my post on the Galway Spirit One Spa somehow made it to the Galway City Guide page?! Even if no one ever reads it, just having my post on a Galway page is enough to make me smile for the rest of the day! Its almost like ME being there Soon enough! Now back to my regularly scheduled post. . . Sunday was a good reminder of why I do not bake. My “plan” was to spend part of this unseasonably cold, SNOWY, Sunday baking almond butter pumpkin cookies. Of course I completely forgot to pick up necessary ingredients such as baking powder and more eggs, so my cookies quickly turned into shortbread, and a very healthy shortbread at that. I started with a jar of Blue Diamond almond butter, this time the ready spread honey almond butter. If you like Barney Butter, you will definitely like this. Best eaten out of the jar it is also very good for baking. I could not get a good picture without flash or with flash. I started with an amazing chocolate chip shortbread recipe that I always make for parties and holidays, and I made quite a few changes.My recipe: 1 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup canned pumpkin mixed with a dash of cinnamon and some freshly ground nutmeg 1/2 cup Blue Diamond honey ready spread almond butter 2 TSP organic maple syrup Preheat oven to 375 Mix all of the ingredients together until a ball of dough is formed. If you need to, sprinkle a tiny bit of water into the bowl, then using your hands shape into a ball, making sure to get all of the flour blended in. Place ball of dough on a cookie sheet or in a baking dish and roll or press out with your hands. Once the dough is on the cookie sheet/baking dish, place in the oven for 12-15 minutes. You want to make sure that the shortbread is cooked through so that it is dry and crunchy/crumbly. Once out of the oven, score the shortbread with a knife so that it is in the pieces that you want it to be in after it cools. This makes it MUCH easier to get apart once it is cool. My shortbread was a little too crumbly. I would bake it for another 3-4 minutes next time. Other than that, I really liked it. There was no sugar or butter added, so this is not a sweet, buttery shortbread like I usually make. However, the tastes of the pumpkin, almond butter, and maple syrup give this a complex, nutty flavor that is perfect for breakfast, with tea or for a not to sweet dessert. I would definitely make this recipe again. It is a versatile, feel-good snack, the kind of baking that I can definitely get behind!

My review once made it into the Singapore eating guide (printed version) – I was so excited!! I’ve never tried that almond butter and I LOVE Barney Butter. This could be a great way to save $$ on shipping BB. Thanks for the tip. While Molly and I were running on Sunday, we were talking about how great it is that we have each other. I mentioned that a few people have been emailing me lately, proposing to meet up for a run. – and she said “You should start a Boston running group!” I totally laughed it off. Maybe you girls are on to something. Hehe. Let me know if you ever want to go for a run! Maybe I WILL start a mini running group after all

I would love to get together for run! I am running Boston and need to stay on track this winter. I have often pictured a Boston Blogger Bootcamp, a whole bunch of us doing push ups on the Common in the snow or something. A running group would be great, and we would all have a lot in common!